Below find a run-down of all the films
seen at this year’s festival. If time permits, a more elaborate
critique (features only) will appear under the label “Film
Box-Office.” They will be identified with the RIDM 2016 logo.
Updates will appear on a frequent basis (hopefully once a day) so
please visit frequently.

A dramatic recreation haunted by the 2012
movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado. It begins as a
typical languid day in a midwestern suburb. But as the day-to-day
lives of a group of strangers progress, heading towards an
intersection at the local downtown cineplex, that alas, will end
tragically. Choosing to take a suggestive approach rather than an
overt one, the filmmaker focuses more on the people involved rather
than the sensationalism of the incident itself. The film paints an
unsettling picture, as it reveals the uncertainty of life, with it's
sinister undercurrent that can strike at any moment.

A powerful and emotionally stirring look at the anti-seal hunting
campaign from the other side of the coin – the effect on the Inuit,
whose collective livelyhood depends on successful seal hunts and on
the sales of derived products. Along with Greenpeace and other
groups, an emotional, radical and controversial anti-seal hunting
campaign (launched in 1976) led to the 1983 ban by the European Union
on products made from seals. Having tragic consequences on their
rights, culture and income, the Inuit are now pushing back against
disinformation. The well-funded anti-seal hunting campaign continues,
still maintaining usage of bloody imagery.

He
Who Eats Children, United States / États-Unis 2016, 26m, Ben
Russell

Filmmaker visits a small jungle village in Suriname to investigate
its local legend about a 'monster' who catches and eats children. The
children of the village have developed a 'hide-and-seek' style game
around the legend. As it turns out, the 'monster' is the village's
only white person – a Dutch man who repairs outboard motors. An
experimentally constructed film that reveals the process behind the
birth of a legendary myth.

An ethnographic essay about the anthropomorhic nature of street
performing monkeys on the island of Java in Indonesia. The film
examines the symbiotic and even mystical relationship between monkey,
master and spectator. When the trained monkey dons a human mask, the
performance takes all participants to the place where shadows, dreams
and death meet.

Using testimonials from her loved ones and her own recollections,
Signe Baumane confronts her own mental illness and depression.
Beginning with her grandmother Anna, she recounts the stories of five
women (including herself) in her family who battled mental illness.
By piecing together her family's history, she also recounts a
mini-history of Latvia in the 20th century. She asks her father "How
did my grandmother die"? His answer was evasive. She got the
same response from his siblings. Based on cryptic clues that would
show up in some of the family stories, Signe strongly believes that
Anna committed suicide.

Il Solengo is the term that hunters use to refer to a wild boar, who
has been separated from the pack. The residents of Vejano, a village
37km northwest of Rome, used the term in reference to Mario di
Marcella, a legendary hermit who lived in a nearby cave. The
narrative of Il Solengo, depending heavily on 'oral traditions,'
unspools through the enthusiastically told yarns of old hunters who
knew him distantly (or very distantly). Whether gathered around the
table with a glass of wine in hand, or sauce simmering on the stove,
a larger than life legend emerges.

'Tempestad'
(Spanish for storm)
recounts the stories of two women, both of these victimized by
corruption and injustice, who are on opposite sides of a modern
Mexican tragedy. It recounts how they used love,
dignity and resistance in order to survive their ordeals.

The first is Miriam,
who was falsely arrested and convicted of human trafficking. The
film begins on the day she is released and heads back home. The
suffering she has endured continues to haunt her.

The second, Adela, works as a circus clown. Her daughter's
disappearance ten year's ago, still casts a shadow over her work.

Ohad
Naharin (born in 1952 in Kibbutz Mizra) is a
contemporary dancer, choreographer and, since 1990, artistic director
for the Batsheva
Dance Company. He is the founder of the 'Gaga' movement,
which is a body language that teaches the dancer the importance of
life in his/her artistic approach and to feel the moves from within.

Youtube Video: Ohad
Naharin discusses Gaga movement

Vidéo
Youtube: Ohad Naharin discute du mouvement de Gaga

Through the use of
rare archival material and contemporary rehearsal scenes, this
documentary fully explores Ohad's personal and professional life,
with no attempt to hide his darker side. An
essential film for those who love dance or have an interest in the
creative process.

This engaging documentary carries us into the
minds of eleven teens growing up in Aulnay-sous-Bois, which is one of
the most underprivileged neighbourhoods in Paris. They all attend
Collège Claude Debussy. Due to a nearly universal gun ownership and
frequent violence, they are a little scared. But despite this, they
all have high hopes and dreams. Their reflections are incisive and
often funny. They show us the world through
their memories and their eyes.

The
documentary makes excellent use of special effects and elements of
science fiction and musical comedy. This gives the film a refreshing
touch of originality.

Christine Chubbock was an American television news reporter for
channel 40 in Sarasota, Florida. On the morning of July 15, 1970,
during a live daily broadcast of ‘Suncoast Digest', she commits
suicide. To research and prepare for her rôle as Christine Chubbock
in a reenactment of the incident (it is actually a fake film),
actress Kate Lyn Sheil and the film crew travel to Sarasota. After
discovering that very little information about Chubbock and why she
commited suicide is available, she begins to question her career
choice. An informative look at how actors research and prepare for
their roles.

In the mountains of Lozére, in
the Occitan region of Southern France, a lone shepherd leads his
flock of sheep through a series of mysterious ancient rites. He
performs them as a tribute to the many victims of confusion,
disappearing forever during the harsh and merciless winter storms
that ravage the region. Meanwhile, patients of the local psychiatric
asylum wander aimlessly, while the medical histories of their
predecessors reveal the inhumane treatments they received. The film
is a poetic ode for those who are lost or excluded: either to the
forces of nature or the demands of life itself.

The
Hockey Sweater is an autobiographical tale based on a childhood
experience by Canadian author Roch Carrier. In
1946, in Sainte-Justine, Quebec, all of the boys idolized Maurice
Richard of the Montreal Canadians and wore his sweater. Roch's
troubles begin when his mother orders a hockey sweater from Eatons,
which is based in Toronto. Need I say more ...?

The
small Italian island of Lampedusa is located in the Mediterranean
Sea, approximately 113 kilometres from Tunisia and
approximately
205 kilometres from Sicily. Since the early 2000s, the
island has been a primary European entry point for many migrants, the
majority being Africans. Unlike most other documentaries about
migrants/refugees attempting to enter Europe or United States and
Canada in search of freedom and a better life, this film provides
contrasts by also focusing on the ordinary people of Lampedusa and
their daily rescue operations. A major comic relief in the film is
the carefree antics of 12-year-old Samuele.

Since the second half of the 2000s, multiple thousands of African
nationals, many from Eritrea and Sudan, have entered Israel through
its border with Egypt. Many of them seek asylum and apply for refugee
status, often, due to difficult internal situations and the fear of
being executed. Sadly, Israeli authorities, considering them as
infiltrators and troublemakers, denying refugee status and sending
them to detention centers, many to Holot, a 20 minute walk from the
Egyptian border. In 2014, a theatre workshop is set up in an
abandoned building to give them a platform allowing them to tell
their stories.

In 1985, Amir Orian, a well-known actor, playwright, director and
theatre critic, founded an experimental theatre company and
laboratory called ‘The Room Theatre’, based in the living room
of his home in Tel Aviv. Not only conceiving and performing his
plays, he also holds workshops and does research studies into seeking
an alternative to performer’s behaviour in the environment of the
artistic event. This has been termed 'The Orian Method - The Open
Circle.' This film examines the mixed feelings towards Israel's 2014
attacks on Gaza. It alternates between animated discussions, on-stage
performances and one-on-one sessions with Orian.

Jesse
Rosenfeld is a Canadian freelance journalist who has been covering
the major issues in the Middle East since 2007. His articles have
been published in many English print media. Filmmaker followed Jesse
for three years as he travels to Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Israel and the
occupied Palestinian territories. Not only must Jesse seek out and
write his stories; he must pitch them to the media; get an approved
budget; and negotiate with his contacts for access and accreditation.

An
informative and vital film that looks at the inner workings behind
the developement of stories that make today's headlines.

for some examples of his articles / pour
quelques exemples de ses articles.

Nuts,
United States / États-Unis 2016, 79m, Penny Lane

Using animation, interviews, archival images and a storytelling type
of narrative, the filmmaker reconstructs the life, work and schemes
of John Romulus Brinkley (1885-1942). Beginning as a pharmacist, he
claimed to be a physician (managing clinics and hospitals in several
states); became a radio magnate (first KFKB in Kansas; followed by
XERA, border blaster from Mexico) and also briefly served as governor
of Kansas. Brinkley was a notorious charlatan who for 20 years made
fortunes by claiming he found a cure for male infertility through goat-testicle transplants. This 'mostly true' tale 'from the edge' is
definitely stranger than fiction.

In 1969,
14-year-old Jerry Levitan, a Beatles fanatic, snuck into John
Lennon's room in a Toronto hotel. He was armed with a reel-to-reel
tape deck. He succeeded in convincing Lennon to agree to do an
interview about peace. Wonderfully animated visuals.

Arthur
Lipsett (1936-1986)
was a Canadian avant-garde director of short collage films. Ushev
captures Lipsett's anguish and torment as he descends into depression
and madness. Powerfully narrated by Xavier Dolan. Disturbingly dark.

A delicately
animated, highly emotional testimonial about a woman who as a child
during the war was the only survivor of a bombardment. Her love of
nature is what saved her. She had decided not to follow the other
children into the basement of the boarding school.

Four of the
surviving members of Monty Python (John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry
Jones and Terry Gilliam) have reunited to pay a cinematic homage to
5th
member Graham Chapman (1941-1989) in this animated 3D adaptation of
his memoirs “A Liar’s Autobiography,” first published in 1980.
The film is a cocktail mixture of highlights from Graham Chapman’s
life, liberal amounts of fiction plus scenes from the troupe’s body
of work. Echoing the original spirit of Monty Python, the film
clearly shows that their brand of surreal raving wackiness has stood
the test of time.

Since the 1991 ceasefire the nomadic
Sahrawi people of the Western Sahara have been subjected to a war of
attrition and are in a state of permanent exile due to a 24,000km
wall put up by the Moroccan government. The filmmaker has chosen to
approach the issue from a distance using grainy Super 8 images of the
desert backed with personal experiences. Lack of background knowledge
of the issue resulted in loss of interest.

Herqueville
is a small village located on the La Hague peninsula in the region of
Normandy in France. It is downhill from the Cogema nuclear waste
processing plant. After visiting the site in 2003, poet Serge Meurant
and visual artist Michelle Corbisier created a series of etchings and
poems. Mixing cinematography and animation with appropriate music by
multi-instrumentalist Fred Frith, Hébert has created a poetic
meditative silent drama.

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Collaborators / Collaborateurs:

Sylvain Richard

Nancy Snipper

Note / Nota:

July 10, 2016:The beginning of a new and exciting chapter! Nancy Snipper's (a.k.a S.N.) first posting on her own blog: http://sntravelandartswithoutborders.blogspot.ca/********************************************************

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